Andhra Pradesh is historically called the "Rice Bowl of India". More than 77% of its crop is rice; Andhra Pradesh produced 17,796,000 tonnes of rice in 2006.[2] Two major rivers, the Godavari and the Krishna run across the state.

An Andhra Kingdom was mentioned in the Sanskrit epics such as Aitareya Brahmana (B.C.800) and Mahabharata.[4] The Natyasastra of Bharatha (1st Century B.C) also mentioned the "Andhra" race.[5] The roots of the Telugu language have been traced to inscriptions found at Bhattiprolu.[6]

Megasthenes, who visited the Court of Chandragupta Maurya (B.C.322–297), mentioned that Andhra country had 3 fortified towns and an army of 100,000 infantry, 200 cavalry and 1,000 elephants. Buddhist books reveal that Andhras established their kingdoms on the Godavari belt at that time. Asoka referred in his 13th rock edict that Andhras were his subordinates.

India became independent from the United Kingdom in 1947. The Muslim Nizam wanted to retain his independence from India, but the people of the region launched the movement to join the Indian Union. The state of Hyderabad was forced to become part of the Republic of India in 1948 after Operation Polo which lasted 5 days and had popular support from the people of the Hyderabad State.

In an effort to gain an independent state, and protect the interests of the Telugu people of Madras State, Amarajeevi Potti Sreeramulu fasted until death. Public outcry and civil unrest after his death forced the government to announce the formation of a new state for Telugu speaking people. Andhra attained statehood on 1 October 1953, with Kurnool as its capital.

On 1 November 1956, Andhra State merged with the Telangana region of Hyderabad State to form the state of Andhra Pradesh. Hyderabad, the former capital of the Hyderabad State, was made the capital of the new state Andhra Pradesh.

Andhra Pradesh's GSDP for 2005 was estimated at $62 billion in current prices. This is a chart of trend of GSDP of Andhra Pradesh at market prices estimated by Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation with figures in millions of Indian Rupees. Accordingly, the state ranks fourth in terms of overall GSDP, and fourth in per capita GSDP among the major states of India. According to another metric, the state ranks third in terms of Gross State Product among all the states of the Indian Union.

Telugu (తెలుగు) is the official language of Andhra Pradesh, one of the largest states of India. It is also one of the twenty-two scheduled languages of the Republic of India and was conferred the status of a Classical language by the Government of India. It is the mother tongue for the majority of people of Andhra Pradesh, but it is also spoken in neighbouring states like Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Orissa, Maharashtra and Chattisgarh. Telugu is the third most spoken language in India (74 million native speakers according to the 2001 census) and figures in the top 14 of the Ethnologue list of most-spoken languages worldwide.

Telugu Talli(Mother Telugu)

The key strengths of the state, apart from the agro-climatic conditions and extensive water sources are:

* Large area under vegetables, fruits, flowers & plantation crops - 5,92,655 ha.
* High average rainfall - 925 mm.
* Large number of educational institutions - one agricultural university and 7 agricultural colleges.
* Strong R&D infrastructure with leading institutions like CCMB, ICRISAT, NAARM, MANAGE AND NIRD

@QM, there was actually a deal during state formation. The Tamils offered Madras city in exchange for Tirupati. Telugus declined.

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I don't think it was Chennai city which was offered. TN opted for Thiruthani(originally with Chittor district , AP) in return for Tirupati district as part of the re-organization of States on linguistic lines. Nevertheless, Tirupathi is better with AP than with TN which is governed by an Atheist.